Battlefleet Eternum

Overview

The Eternum sector, possessing a massive shipyard and forge worlds, historically maintained only a minor interdiction fleet within Eternum to combat pirates and other minor threats, with the bulk of her Battlefleet supporting Battlefleet Bakka in more contentious sectors. The increasing raids that preceded the birth of the Bubonic Rift, itself accompanied by a massive rise in attacks and invasions in the sector led to Battlefleet Eternum forming into a more formidable force, with ships and crew that could rival sectors with a longer history of combat. The fleet adopted colors to represent their new found role of anti-incursion duties, and sports grey black metal hulls with darker red prows with bright gold emblems. Officially, the red represents the blood of martyrs who gave their lives fighting the spew of the rift, but common belief and rumors state it's to mirror the Inquisitorial elements that so often requisition their ships. The heretic astartes and forces of Nurgle that invade from the rift are particularly fond of boarding, and thus the fleet maintains a significant complement of armsmen. While counter boarding the most corrupted of the heretics fleet is a futile action, the smaller, less corrupted, vessels used by cultists, space hulks, and retaking captured ships all demand dangerous boarding actions and thus each ship will maintain elite breaching teams.

Port Tecklonbor

The Battlefleet is serviced by the massive Port Tecklenbor, a gigantic collection of connected drydocks, servicing berths, and construction docks that is capable of building and servicing a multitude of craft at any given time, including multiple battleships. Originally the larger of twin ports built during the Great Crusade, the smaller twin Port Uralplagush was lost to Chaos in the Putrilocus subsector. Uralplagush has proven immensely beneficial for the Plague God's minions and is able to churn out large numbers of cruisers and battlecruisers, while still having the Dark Mechanicus facilities required to repair the occasional battleship. Still, in a pure production battle Port Tecklenbor would win by a significant margin, but its obligations to the Indomitus crusade and Battlefleet Tempestus prevent it from throwing its full weight behind Battlefleet Eternum. Complicating matters, the collapse of the Phobox Anomaly led to several Battlegroups declaring their formerly hidden allegiance to the ruinous powers, joining the Chaos bands in the New Worlds in Kalibras.

On the larger scale, Battlefleet Eternum battlegroups do serve in the larger Battlefleet Bakka, but the fleets not permanently assigned to Battlefleet Bakka generally only serve a rotation before returning. As a result of the ship types ordered by Battlefleet Bakka that favor big guns over strike craft, Port Tecklenbor primarily produces ships that focus on macrocannon and lance batteries, which is reflected in Battlefleet Eternum's makeup. Battlefleet Eternum is primarily armed with macrocannon batteries, along with lances and torpedoes, with very few carrier type ships save for Battlefleet Kalibras. The carriers that do exist outside Battlefleet Kalibras are incredibly old even by the venerable status of many of Eternum's ships, and find themselves still distrusted by other fleets.

Battlefleet Eternum and Component Fleets

Each Imperial subsector possesses its own Battlefleet thanks to the large production capacities of Port Tecklonbor and subsector Gothar, though they are all part of Battlefleet Eternum, which is in turn part of Battlefleet Bakka. Battlefleet Eternum as a whole is led by Lord Admiral Gunther Dönitz, who has led the Battlefleet for the last 200 years from Battlefleet Eternum's flagship, the retribution class Savior of Caligulas. Under Lord Admiral Dönitz are each subsector's Admirals who lead their respective fleet, with the only exception being Battlefleet Gothar. Battlefleet Gothar is the flag fleet of Eternum and is thus led directly by the Lord Admiral, with Gothar's Admiral Karl Prien serving as his executive officer from the Emperor class battleship Bearer of Divinity. All Battlefleets possess at least one Battleship which serves as the subsector Admiral's flagship, except for Battlefleet Arkamedes which was devastated and whose strongest ships are Battlecruisers and Battlefleet Richmon whose flagship is an Avenger class Grand Cruiser due to the preference of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, though Battlefleet Richmon does possess an Oberon class Battleship as well. Battlefleet Eternum as a whole does focus on macrocannon, lance, and torpedo salvos in lieu of strike craft, though each subsector fleet and its constituent battlegroups may vary slightly based off the preference of the Admiral. Battlefleet Kalibras is the most deviated battlefleet in Eternum, with strike craft prioritized over traditional armament.

The following table contains the primary Battlefleets in Eternum with their flagship, the Admiral, and preferred tactics or fleet composition. All Battlefleet Eternum vessels have grey-black hulls with red prows, with subsector Battlefleets varying in trim color for identification. Fleet Number corresponds to the relative strength of the fleet ranked from strongest to weakest.

Battlefleet Name	Fleet Number	Admiral	Flagship Name	Flagship Class	Trim Color
Battlefleet Gothar	First	Lord Admiral Gunther Dönitz	Savior of Caligulas	Retribution Battleship	Gold
Battlefleet Caligulas	Second	Admiral Jervis Horatio	Ark Royal	Apocalypse Battleship	Bronze
Battlefleet Confedus	Third	Admiral Randolph Tucker	Palmetto Iron	Retribution Battleship	White Silver
Battlefleet Richmon	Fourth	Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky	Kirov Arkhangelsk	Avenger Grand Cruiser	Burgundy
Battlefleet Makerus	Fifth	Admiral Pulteney Malcolm	Salamander of Makerus	Apocalypse Battleship	Light Blue
Battlefleet Kalibras	Sixth	Admiral Chester Halsey	Ticonderoga	Emperor Battleship	White
Battlefleet Arkamedes	Seventh	Vice Admiral Louis de Calant	Bretagne	Armageddon Battlecruiser	Green

Each Battlefleet in Eternum has millenia of tradition behind them and officers are chosen from the subsector's noble families that have a history with the Battlefleet. Battlefleet Eternum did lose several keel-built vessels to heresy as well as the rare captain, as well as the defection of significant fleets from Arkamedes during the First Poxwar, but overall Battlefleet Eternum has remained resolute.

Battlefleet Gothar

Led by Battlefleet Eternum's Lord Admiral Gunther Dönitz, Gothar's preferred tactics are Dönitz's famed torpedo pincer maneuver. The torpedo pincer maneuver sees three or more torpedo carrying ships approach the enemy's flagship or a critical vessel from the front and sides, using the flanking ships to force the hostile flagship forward before burning maneuvering engines hard to fire salvos of torpedoes from behind at the same time the lead front ship fires its torpedoes, drowning the ship in torpedo salvos while macrocannons and lances pummel it. While this maneuver did save the Aural Gate more than once, the flanking ships are vulnerable if the target ships break out to the side while other hostile ships box it in. As their general posture, Gothar uses few ships with launch bays and reserves the few it does have for fighter screens or the occasional boarding action. Most ships are equipped with standard macrocannon batteries, though some use plasma macrocannons, with an even split between prow lances, prow arms, or prow mounted Nova cannons. Battlefleet Gothar is the most in line with Battlefleet Bakka's tendency and the most traditional battlefleet in Eternum. Battlefleet Gothar's greatest weakness is its over reliance on torpedoes and close broadsides - any enemy fleet with an excess of turrets or that can keep the distance can negate the Battlefleet's primary strengths.

Battlefleet Caligulas

As the Battlefleet originating from the most attacked subsector in Eternum, Battlefleet Caligulas has some of the most experienced admirals and captains in Eternum who throughout the millennia of wars have tailored their fleet to excel against the fleets and tactics of the arch-enemy of Mankind. Battlefleet Caligulas is built around quickly closing the gap on Chaos ships and engaging them at medium range, where their accurate macrocannon volleys can pummel the enemy safe from the risk of Nurglite boarders. The fleets of the arch enemy are exceptionally dangerous, with some fleets comprised of carriers and long range vessels, with others designed to drive close and disgorge Rotbelchers, cultists, and daemons, with some hostile fleets mixing the two, thus mid-range combat is the most advantageous position for Battlefleet Caligulas. Caligulas does possess slightly more launch bay capable ships than Gothar, but these are oft limited to one or two per fleet and used to launch fighters responsible for defeating enemy bombers or boarding craft. Battlefleet Caligulas also possesses more Battleships than any other subsector save Gothar, though this is offset by their lack of any significant amount of grand cruisers. Escort craft are likewise less common, with the few groups of frigates being comprised of solely Falchion or Sword class escorts designed to take on ordnance or smaller vessels while the larger ships focus on priority targets. Battlefleet Caligulas is weak to xenos vessels as their common doctrine allows Eldar corsairs or other xenos ships that have excessive maneuverability to seize the initiative while more close range or ramming xenos like orks can close the distance in medium range engagements, thus Caligulas is rarely called to assist defense of the Iron Gate or Kalibras.